1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disposable waste receptacle which is particularly adapted to safely hold infectious waste material for disposal.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
In the medical field today, most hyperdermic syringes and many other medical instruments are disposable and intended for one-time use. Such disposability is desirable from the standpoint of sanitation to prevent the inadvertent transfer of communicable diseases. Particularly in view of the public attention given to such communicable diseases, it is highly desirable to take all steps possible to efficiently dispose of such medical syringes and instruments which might possibly contain infectious waste. A large number of medical infectious waste containers have been proposed, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,315,592; 4,375,849; 4,494,652; and 4,560,081.
While many of such known infectious waste receptacles have desirable features, they are all somewhat deficient in the precautions taken against reuse. That is, such known infectious waste receptacles do not provide adequate protective features to prevent spillage or reopening of the receptacle after it has been filled with contaminated infectious waste material. In fact, many of such known infectious waste receptacles have features which specifically allow for easy reopening of the receptacle even after infectious waste material has been deposited.